Candidate's Cousin
Roots in a Low Key;
Why? He's French

Mayor of Saint-Briac Knows
It's Not the Time to Crow;
'He Was the Big American'

By

William Echikson Dow Jones Newswires

Updated July 30, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

SAINT-BRIAC, France -- Brice Lalonde, the mayor of this little town in Brittany, flopped in his dark-horse 1981 bid to become president of France, winning just 4% of the vote. This year, he is hoping for a different prize: first cousin of the president of the United States.

Mr. Lalonde is the French-born cousin of John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts. Their mothers were sisters. On summer days as a 10-year-old in 1956, Brice (pronounced...